José Mourinho was back on the touchline for Roma and his side got off to an incredible fast start as they attacked the Lecce goal straight away, resulting in a penalty being awarded inside two minutes. A goalbound Paulo Dybala shot was deflected behind by the arm of Federico Baschirotto, and after a lengthy VAR review, Romelu Lukaku stepped up but fired his spot-kick straight at the legs of Wladimiro Falcone.
The Giallorossi did not allow the miss to affect them and continued to dominate proceedings with Dybala in particular looking the most dangerous, floating across the frontline and pulling the strings.
The Argentine almost opened the scoring around the half-hour mark after superbly flicking the ball over an opposition defender and volleying inches past the post. Lecce seemed to have weathered the storm of the home side and instead ended the half on top, without creating any clear-cut chances for themselves.
It was a more evenly-contested start to the second half as Lecce continued their positive spell, whilst Roma looked threatening on the counter.
That method of soaking up pressure and breaking almost worked for Mourinho’s team as Stephan El Shaarawy’s cross into the box fell to Lukaku, whose first-time effort was saved by the legs of Falcone, denying the Belgian for the second time this evening with this method.
Lecce continued to soak up the pressure from the home side and then hit them with a sucker punch as Lameck Banda drifted into the box and saw his shot blocked but the loose ball was pounced upon by Pontus Almqvist, whose first-time strike beat Rui Patrício at his near post.
Roma looked shell-shocked after falling behind but Mourinho turned to his bench, making four substitutions with the aim of shaking things up. Two of those introduced from the bench repaid the faith of their manager as Nicola Zalewski’s ball into the box was headed in by Sardar Azmoun, setting up a tense last few minutes of stoppage time.
The equalising goal created a huge shift in momentum and it seemed like a matter of when and not if Roma would snatch a winner. That proved to be the case as it arrived in the 94th minute when Dybala picked out Lukaku, who showed great composure in the box to hold off a defender and fire past Falcone.
That last-gasp victory for Mourinho’s men catapults them up into eighth place and within one point of the European places.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Paulo Dybala (AS Roma)
